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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Tora on September 26, 2006, 11:42:12

Title: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Tora on September 26, 2006, 11:42:12
Hi all.  :)

I grew some garlics this year from supermarket garlic bulbs and had a good crop.
I want to make sure I get lots of garlics next year so I'm looking to buy proper varieties. Which garlic variety would you recommend?

Thanks
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: tim on September 26, 2006, 12:09:16
They're all great. Nuances of difference.  Check out the credits?

www.reallygarlicky.co.uk/
www.garlicworld.co.uk/
www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: ruffmeister on September 26, 2006, 12:16:58
thats some expensive garlic!!!
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: tim on September 26, 2006, 12:20:14
I'm not saying that you should buy it there - just read & learn.

But where do you source it cheaply? Like how cheap??
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: ruffmeister on September 26, 2006, 13:07:05
we get ours from wyvale garden centres, have been very impressed with those
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Multiveg on September 26, 2006, 13:26:45
Have tried GarlicWorld but an email bounced back  ???
Have grown the different varieties from them but somehow labels got erm moved. Flavour was nice of all the ones I tried  :D
Have bought Marco (Taylors Bulbs) for overwintering. I have some garlic flowerheads that I might plant out.
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on September 26, 2006, 15:53:14
After trying for several years to grow the appalling so-called garlic from local garden centres, which just didn't bulk up at all, I bought some from the Garlic Farm last year. OK, it wasn't cheap, but it was very well worth it, and you only need to buy it once.
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Rosyred on September 26, 2006, 19:51:35
Buy it once......so do you use bulbs from the lst year to grow for the following?
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: supersprout on September 26, 2006, 19:57:51
Garlic, red of Sulmona, from Franchi.
Yes, I only buy garlic once and plant the fattest cloves from the fattest bulbs from then on - so I can't tell you what my white variety is any more! :-[
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on September 26, 2006, 22:36:51
I just take the biggest bulbs and plant the cloves. I've just been planting Albigensian Wight, and I'll be putting in Solent Wight and elephant garlic as well as soon as I have a couple of beds clear. So far I've also put in the overwintering onions, walking onions and a few eschalote grise; most of the latter had rotted for some reason; I don't know why since all the other alliums are storing fine. I'll buy some more to make up the numbers; the harvest this year was pathetic with lots of very small bulbs but that could have been just the drought.
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: OliveOil on September 27, 2006, 00:09:09
I bought 9 bulbs from garlic farm for £10, 4 of abyssian somthing and another one and 1 elephant garlic bulb with 10 HUGE cloves.  I am hoping for a bumper crop!
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: MrsKP on September 27, 2006, 04:13:14
I'm still waiting for my Purple Wight and Solent Wight to arrive from Dobies. Each were £2.95 for 2 bulbs.

The bed has been ready for a week now and I'm beginning to drum my fingers but I've still got plenty of time.    ::)
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: tim on September 27, 2006, 06:50:13
Just to say that you can still get something from as late as March - even in a raised bed. NOT the ideal place! Bone dry.

Some of these went in in January, the rest in March.

Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Merry Tiller on September 27, 2006, 07:23:19
Just remember to always replant the very best of your crop, that way your harvest will constantly improve & acclimatise to your growing conditions
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: supersprout on September 27, 2006, 07:57:46
Plenty of time to plant this year - plot wisdom here is November, not before ???
I go with the flow and plant garlic in November too, it seems to work fine here in P'boro :)
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: MrsKP on September 27, 2006, 08:22:24
Just clicked through tim's links and the Dobies site.  Delivery won't be til October.   ::)

It's amazing what you can find out if you read !  I found some bulbils on my stored garlic this week and ate them.  Going to go and see if there are any more today to plant, just as a trial like.   :P



Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Squashfan on September 27, 2006, 10:15:28
I've used Marshall's before but this year I've gone with the Garlic Farm Albisigan Wight (sp?) and their shallot offering. I'm also planting a head of the elephant garlic I grew this year for next year. Actually got to chat with the guy from the Garlic Farm at a show recently and he said the shallots will spoil me for other types. Expensive but hey, we're worth it, ha ha.  ;D
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Tora on September 27, 2006, 11:12:38
Thanks all!

Garlic Lover's Growing Pack from the Garlic Farm is tempting me! Red of Sulmona looks good too... and Music from Really Garlicky... and.... I want them all! I just love garlics :P
I'm going to plant some cloves from big bulbs I harvested this year too. I have no idea what variety they are, but they were great.

Glad to hear that I do not need to hurry up planting, as I have to clear tomato plants first to make room for garlics. ::) Yours look great, Tim! I hope to have a crop like that next year. How much space between plants do they need by the way?

I just love planning what to grow next year! Really exciting :D




Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: tim on September 27, 2006, 13:33:26
Ours were not great, & would have been much better in the ground but, with White Rot, we couldn't risk it.

And they would probably have been better planted in the Autumn.
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Tora on September 27, 2006, 14:10:55
Thanks Tim. Sorry to hear you had White Rot. Your garlics still look great though! :D

I'm going to try to make space for garlics before winter...  :)
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: caroline7758 on September 27, 2006, 17:34:58
Got mine from the Garlic farm last year, but it got rust & didn't clove properly- no reflection on the supplier, just down to the weather, I guess. But still decided to go for some cheaper bulbs this year & have ordered from King's- not much choice but good value.
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: mc55 on September 27, 2006, 18:10:37
My Purple Wight from Dobies arrived on Monday. Got 6 bulbs, but one of them has about 3 cloves missing disappointingly.  However, I've NEVER seen garlic that size before - wow, its enormous !

Planning to plant at the w/e.
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: OliveOil on September 27, 2006, 18:11:37
depends on the garlic as to when to plant... some i have shouldnt be planted til early spring... but the garlic place said to def plant Elephant Garlic NOW
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: Paulines7 on September 29, 2006, 09:45:41
I bought Printnor Organic and Solent White from Tuckers.  I planted them in April and have harvested a magnificent crop.  The cloves all split perfectly within the bulbs despite not being subject to any cold weather.   I may try planting a few this Autumn just in case my stored ones don't survive the winter.
Title: Re: Which garlic? - Recommendation please
Post by: MrsKP on September 29, 2006, 09:53:38
bluddy hell !!!  Mine arrived from Dobies this morning (it's been like Clapham Junction/Glasgow Central - pick a station close to you - in here all morning).

and WOWSER are they HUGE or what ?????   If these are representative of the size I'll be getting next year, I'll have to find a bigger bed!